Life, Love, & Lessons
by mused347
Summary: Renesmee Cullen has had a great life. That is until she learns of all the secrets that her family has been keeping from her. She realizes that even though she has her family, she may have to fight for everything herself.
1. Mushroom Ravioli

**Chapter One: Mushroom Ravioli**

Journal #1

May 4th, 2012

I didn't really care if I wasn't what the other kids were. I knew I was special. I knew I was loved. Not many people of my kind have the courage to say that. Not to say that there are that many people of my kind to begin with. I was half of my father and half of my mother. That was the only thing that made me the same as the rest of the population. The thing is that you wouldn't believe that my parents were two different species at the time that I was conceived. My mother was like every other normal thing on this planet, human. My father was something else; something else entirely to be exact. My father was a vampire. And you say that you're weird. I'm half-vampire, half-human and that's all I'll ever be. I will always be the only one in my family who has a blush. I'm the only one in my family who has a heart pumping blood. I'm the only one that can change from when I was born. I'm the only one that can be different in my family. There is only five of our kind, and I think that might be enough.

When I was born my mom was a human. But, my second time meeting her she was a vampire. In the three days from the first meeting to the second meeting she was transformed into a vampire by my father. Awkward conversation, isn't it?

My mother always says that I have my father's beauty and elegance, whatever that's supposed to mean. My father has always said the exact same thing about me except it was about my mother. If you put me in the middle of my father and mother, we would look like triplets. The only way you could notice who I was, was because of my blush. I love my blush. My father has bronze hair with the face of one of the gods. My mother looks like an angel with her straight brown hair and golden eyes. When she was human, she used to have the muddy brown eyes my grandfather has. Now both my mother and father have the same golden brown eyes when they have eaten and the same black eyes when they haven't. I have everything of my father's except for my eyes. I have my grandfather's muddy brown eyes just like my mom did when she was human. I love my muddy browns.

Anyway, from then on I have grown in the last five years to have the body of a seventeen-year old even though I should be in kindergarten right now. I have the knowledge of a 103 year old who's read books for most of their life. At least, that's what my father says. I'm a very smart five-year old.

My life is now revolved around my eccentric family. I already told you about my mom and dad but I haven't told you about my other family members. First, let's start with the grandparents. Carlisle and Esme, dad's adoptive parents, are the ones I know the most. They live about a mile away with my aunts and uncles in their enormous mansion. (Carlisle's a doctor.) They have always been there for me. Carlisle is my personal physician when I need it. And with the way I am, I need him a lot. Esme is the one that loves anyone she meets unconditionally. I know that if everyone else in the world hates me, she gonna love me. Then the human grandparents come into the picture. Charlie is the only human grandparent I've known and I love him unconditionally. Mom says that you can count on him for anything and I believe her. He always comes to visit me and when I go to his house I always cook him a big meal that the two of us love to eat together. He's my best friend. Renee is the only grandparent I've never met. I don't even think she knows that I exist. Mom only talks to her on the phone. She hasn't seen Renee since the day she married Edward and was whisked away on their honeymoon. I really hope I get to meet her someday.

My aunts and uncles are another story. Alice, my dad's sister/best friend, is the only one that my mother, father, and I can compare to fully. All of us have special powers. Mom has a mental shield. Dad can read minds. Alice can see the future. And I can tell people what I'm thinking about by touching them. My power is like the opposite of my dad's. Yeah, we love her quirkiness and joyfulness every day of the week. Jasper, Alice's husband, is also in our little group of powers. He can manipulate the emotions of others around him. It's actually kind of cool. He's the one who makes my dad calm every time I break my leg. Rosalie, the beauty of the family, is the coolest. She takes care of me like the little sister she never had, most likely because she never had a little sister. And last but certainly not least, Emmett, my favorite uncle; just don't tell that to Jasper. Emmett is my big, round teddy bear. I love it every time he wrestles me. I win every time but I think that's because he lets me. But, I don't know, he might just let me just because I'm the only niece he's ever going to have… ever.

Another family member isn't technically part of my family. His name is Jacob and he's a werewolf. My werewolf big brother, it's actually kind of cool when you think about it. He's not my brother genetically but in my heart he is. He's been withmy family ever since I was born. He was the third person to carry me after I was born. I remember seeing him and from there on I've never went a day without seeing him. My family gets a little frustrated but I think it's awesome for the mortal enemy of the vampire to hang around with a group of them all day. It's really brave. I will, forever and always, love my Jake. -Renesmee

I finished up my journal entry just in time for dinner. My dinner, at least. Dad was making my favorite, Mushroom Ravioli. I don't know why but there was a reason Dad liked making it for me so much.

"How's your journal coming?" Dad said curiously as he set my food on the table.

"Fine, how's cooking?" I replied with my mouth half-full of food.

"Bearable. You do know that your mother had this on our first date up in Port Angeles."

"You're kidding me, seriously?"

I was bewildered by the fact my mother had ate this meal when she was still human. The thought was actually kind of cool. I was the only one in the family, besides Jacob, that could actually eat human food. I didn't like it as much as blood but my dad made me eats it at least twice a week. Mom had no say in that decision.

"Journals are good for memory keeping. That's what I've been writing in my journal for the past one hundred years. And whenever I was human, my mother encouraged me to write as much as I could before I could be picked to go into the Army. She didn't want me to forget my past life. She used to say "Edward Anthony, you better write in that journal or else you're going to forget everything when you come back from the war. You have to tell your grandchildren your story someday." He looked down saddened.

Dad always got kind of sad when he thought about his mother. He'd always wanted to bring her back somehow. He'd always wanted to bring back Elizabeth Masen. There was just no possible way of doing it.

"Well, Edward Anthony Masen Cullen" I said in my most adult voice, "I'm done with my human food for the week, may we go out now?

"Yes you may, Renesmee Carlie Cullen, follow me." Dad said as if he was trying to hide something.

Jacob had been gone for a while. He had gone up to Seattle with Leah and Seth to meet some other tribe of werewolves. I had volunteered to come along, but he didn't want a half-vampire to be there if they got into some kind of fight. I would have put money on Jake, Leah and Seth in that fight. Jake had always been protective of me and I didn't know why. I'd asked my dad a million times and he said "It's complicated." He said everything was complicated. I'm like my dad in so many ways. I'd asked Mom too and she had said the same thing. Apparently, everything in this family is complicated.

We finally arrived at our little cottage in the woods when I noticed that something was different about the house. It looked… weird. It was as if someone had changed it. I immediately guessed. I knew what was wrong with the house.

"Why is the house bigger?" I asked Dad before he could say anything.

"We're going through a little renovation." Dad said slowly as if I wasn't going to understand.

"Renovation? What kind of renovation?" I stared skeptically at the house as I said this as if I were protecting it or something.

"Your mother and I have been thinking and we think that it's time that you had a little more space. You're growing at a rapid pace and I'm not sure you'll even fit through the door. We're doing this for you."

Dad had a point. I was growing an inch every two or three weeks and I only wore any article of clothing for a day before I grew out of it. I was almost as tall as Dad after I turned five, and that was eight months ago. I was wondering where Mom was after all this time. I hadn't seen her all day, and that was rare. Something big must have been going on.

"Is Mom in there?"

I doubt she would be. Mom's not really a construction kind of person. As a matter of fact, nobody in our family is, except for Emmett. Now I knew who was doing all the handy work.

"Emmett! Uncle Emmett!" He didn't answer. "Emmett. You better come out here or I'm going to start speaking all kinds of different languages."

Emmett hated it when I started speaking languages other that English. It was the only one he knew other than Italian. But every vampire knew Italian.

"Emm-." I stopped short when I realized it wasn't Emmett. A tall dark figure came out from the shadows. The black hair that trailed it immediately gave me a heart pumping sensation.

"Jake!" I shouted with all my might.

"Nessie! How've you been?" He sounded like he needed to tell me something, just like Edward. Something was seriously wrong with these people today. That was never a good thing in this family. His face was full of worry.

"What's wrong, Jake. Did I do something wrong?"

"No, no, it wasn't you. It was me. I did something wrong a long time ago and I've - we've never told you."

He looked at my father like he confided in him. Everyone confided in my father, everyone. This wasn't going to be good news on my part.

I could feel the Mushroom Ravioli coming up again.


	2. Atomic Bomb

**Chapter Two: Atomic Bomb**

"Let's go back to the house, Renesmee. We should have Carlisle explain it to you." Dad said with worried eyes.

As we traveled back to the house, I began wondering what they were going to tell me. Were they going to turn me into a full vampire? Were they going to tell me that we needed to move? Were they going to tell me why I haven't seen Mom all day? These questions ran through my head the whole way we ran back to Carlisle's house. It frustrated me.

As I entered the white house with white and glass walls, I began to have the feeling that it had to do more with me than I originally thought. I was scared.

"Stop freaking out. I can hear your heart beat a hundred miles and hour." Dad said to me as we were walking up the grand spiral stair case in the Cullen mansion. I spotted Rosalie and Emmett there lying on their beds talking to one another. When we walked passed Jasper and Alice's room, I saw Alice dancing around and Jasper just staring blankly at a wall.

"Jasper? What's wrong?" He didn't even turn around to look at me.

When we go to the end of the hallway, I saw my/Edward's room. He didn't use it anymore so when I wanted to sleep over at Carlisle's, I would sleep in there. It was my favorite place in the world. But, it was located across the hall from Carlisle's office, my least favorite place in the world, that reason being because that's where I get _all _my bad news.

"Sit down, Renesmee." Carlisle said as I walked into the room. He was looking out his window, and like Jasper, he didn't turn around when I walked in.

"Carlisle, what's going on? Why is everybody acting so weird all of a sudden?" My tone was forceful but scared at the same time.

"We have some important news. You must be sure that you will listen to Jacob, Edward and I very carefully. We know that you will not understand at one time but it has come the time that we tell you."

"Nessie, you have to listen to your grandfather. He's knows better than I do on how to deal with this." Jacob said. He voice was apprehensive. I knew this would involve him in a major way.

I already knew all of my emotions. Those were the only things that I really thought were _mine_. I knew that something was going to go on with the werewolf and the vampires standing in the room around me. I just didn't know what. When I didn't know what was going to happen, I always freaked. It was not like me to not know what was happening. I didn't like that.

"Vampires and Werewolves, as you know, are supposed to be mortal enemies. And since Jacob has been around us for the past five years, we were thinking if you knew why." Carlisle sounded like someone was bribing him to say that. It sounded very strange coming from his mouth.

"Maybe, he wanted to be here for mom, to bring her moral support or something like that." I was freaking out, again.

"No, you're not listening. Renesmee, have you ever thought that we let him stay around here because of you?"

"Nope. I mean, maybe. I don't know."

"Then who knows? Look you have to answer this carefully." Edward said in a mildly angry voice. I always called him Edward when I was mad at him. He'd never spoken to me like that.

"I don't know what you're asking! Why are you putting me on the spot like this?"

"It's because something happened to Jacob when you were born and we never told you about it."

I was shocked. All the possibilities went through my head of what I could've done to my Jacob.

"Did I hurt him? Did I bite him or something?"

"No, you didn't do anything wrong." Jacob interjected.

"Jacob, stay out of this." Edward said protectively. He was protecting me.

"No! I'm not staying out of this. I'm the one that caused the whole problem in the first place." Jacob was on his knees. He looked like he was about to propose. That would've been weird.

"Look at me, Renesmee. Look at me. Do you know about the whole imprinting thing? Only werewolves can do it, ya know what I'm talking about?"

"I have no idea." I had some idea, but I needed my memory refreshed so I lied.

"It's when werewolves have an involuntary reaction and become attached to their true loves, their soul mates. Do you remember now?"

"Yep, I do, kind of. So what does that have to do with me?"

"Someone imprinted on you when you were born, Nessie." That was Edward. He sounded all caring now.

"Are you telling me that my true love is a... a werewolf!" I was on my feet now.

"Yes, that's exactly what we're telling you."

"Then who is it? Who imprinted on me?"

"It was me. I did it. It was involuntary and I'm so, so sorry." Jacob said lovingly. I didn't believe him.

I had always thought there was a special reason why Jacob was allowed to come into our house and eat my food, but I'd never thought it through. I just thought that since he was mom's best friend, he might as well be allowed into the house. I finally knew the reason. I was destined to be with my Jacob, I just never believed it. Now, I did… barely.

"What?" I lied skeptically.

"It was me. I'm the one that imprinted on you." Jacob said.

"Yeah, I get that part, but what does that mean to us?"

"It means that if you want to be with me you can be and if you don't I'll be your best friend forever just like I am now."

"So…if I want to be with you I can be?"

"Yes."

I felt like I was in World War II. Edward, Jacob, and Carlisle were the Russian soldiers and I was the atomic bomb being dropped down to kill them all. I didn't like being the atomic bomb.

"But, what if I say no and I fall in love with some other guy, what happens then?" I was trying to get as much information now as possible.

"Nothing, but if you do fall in love with someone else, you just have to know that your not the one he's destined to be with and you might be taking him away from his soul mate."

Jake sounded worried. He knew I would never ask so many questions. I hardly ever asked questions in the first place. He knew something was up and he wasn't going to stop until he knew what it was. I was just trying to figure out if he was in love with me or not. And I was trying to figure out how I was going to hurt my parents for never telling me before. I had to ask. I had to know.

"Can I ask another question?"

"Sure, why not?" Jake sounded confused.

"Do you love me?" I couldn't believe that those words actually came out of my mouth. I was freaking out.

He was taking a long time to answer. I knew he was scared of what I would say when he actually did say something, whenever that would be.

He finally answered. "Yes, I do."

I couldn't believe it. I was ecstatic. I loved him too. But I don't think I loved him in _that_ way. I think I loved him in a more puppy dog way. And I finally knew why he was always around the house. He was here protecting me like every other thing in the world that loves me. There are only another five that are like me. They all are related having the same vampire dad. I was the most precious thing in their life. They all loved me.

"Really, you love me? Whoa. I'm still freaking out. I can't believe it. I think I love you too." That's when I realized I was in his arms. I was just staring at him. He looked like a god but with long, black hair. I'd always like his hair.

"Seriously, you love me too?" He sounded skeptical.

"Yeah, I really do, but not in that way, maybe in the future, but not now." He looked disappointed. That was all I could say. I was totally blown out of my mind. I needed to change the subject.

"Edward, where's Bella?"

"Oh, you noticed. Umm, she's at Charlie's house."

"Can I go over? I haven't seen Charlie in like forever."

"It hasn't been forever, believe me. Yeah, you can go over. But, I am going to with you. I have to talk to you."

"Okay, see you later, Jake."

Edward and I were halfway out the door when I heard dancing foot steps. It was Aunt Alice.

"Hey! How's it going?" Alice asked questionably.

"Good. I just found out that Jacob is my soul mate and that my mother is no where to be seen. So I'm guessing their going pretty well."

"Oh, you told her? I thought you were going to wait until Bella got back."

My father immediately took her into the other room and spoke to her through his mind. I knew this because she was the only one talking.

"What! What do you mean he's going to leave? Is he going to leave her here all alone with her heart broken? You know she can't survive this, Edward."

Thoughts began racing through my head, and the next thing I knew I was in my room writing in my journal.

Journal #2

May 4th, 2012 (again)

Sorry for writing twice in the same day but something big has come up. I have just found out that my werewolf best friend is supposed to be my soul mate. It's not like I'm happy about this but I'm not sad about it either. It's actually kind of cool. Anyway, my aunt and dad are talking right now in the living room about what Jacob is planning on doing. I think that they are saying that he is leaving and not coming back. Hopefully, that isn't the case. If everything is for the best then if Jacob leaves, he'll take me with him. I'll keep you posted. –Renesmee

I went back downstairs as fast as I could. I couldn't bear missing another detail that was involving my Jacob. But soon as I hit the last step, my father was waiting for me outside.

"Where did you go?" Edward asked.

"I was… writing."

"Really? So you actually took my advice and started writing journals."

"Yep, I sure did."

"What did you write about?"

"Can I tell you on the way? I really want to see mom."

"Sure." He picked me up and threw me over his shoulder. "Now you can tell me." We were running.

"Ok, well in the first one, I explained who I was. Who I was half-human and half-vampire and I explained the interesting things about my family."

"Ok, so what were you writing about right now?" Edward was getting suspicious.

"Oh, look! We're here."

We arrived just in time so that I didn't have to answer the question. Charlie was the only grandparent I knew that was from my mother's side. I don't know my maternal grandmother. I wish I did. I barged in through the door like it was my own house. Charlie didn't mind. As least, I think he didn't.

"Hey Charlie!" I exclaimed.

"What's happening, Nessie? How's my only granddaughter?" Charlie looked at Edward when he said that. Dad just looked away.

"Nothing, I was just wondering where Mom's been all day. I've never been a day without seeing her."

"Oh well your mom's upstairs in my bedroom. She was helping me organize my closet."

"Organize your closet? Your closet doesn't need organizing. And besides I organized it like a month ago."

"I know and that's exactly what I told her when she came in here. But she is so much like your grandmother, stubborn and hardheaded."

"Well, I guess I'll have to believe you. I'm going to see mom."

"Okay, I'll be down here watching the game."

Edward was already upstairs when I heard him and Mom arguing over something. I eavesdropped again.

"Edward Anthony Masen Cullen, how could you do such a thing?"

"I had no other choice. He was leaving and he didn't want to leave without telling her first."

"But, I wanted to be there to tell her that it wasn't her fault."

"And, she knows that it wasn't her fault. Our daughter is smarter than that. She's the smartest person I know."

"You have a point. Anyway, we're going to discuss this when other people aren't listening."

I had been compromised.

"Renesmee Cullen, what are you doing?" Dad said.

"Gosh, sorry for me being concerned about my parent's marriage's well being."

"How much of that did you hear?"

"I heard everything from Edward Anthony Masen Cullen."

"Good."

"How is that good? Where are Jacob and the pack going and what are you doing cleaning Charlie's closet again after I cleaned it?" My hands were on my hips as I waited for an answer.

"Your mother is cleaning Charlie's closet because he has something I need."

"Then why don't you just ask him for it?"

"Well, the thing is that he doesn't know that he has it."

"What do you mean he doesn't know he has it?"

"It's something that I hid here in Charlie's closet when I was with your mother when she was still human. And then when I left her, I was hoping she would find it, but I wanted her to forget about it so I left it in here."

"What is it?"

"It's the Cullen Crest."

The Cullen Crest was a thing that everybody in our family had except for me and Mom. I'd always wondered why she didn't have one.

"You were going to give mom a Cullen Crest before she was even married or a vampire?"

"Yes, that was exactly was I was planning on doing. It was going to be something for her to remind her of me."

"Then why didn't you give one to her when you guys got married?"

"I didn't want her to think that I was fully committed to her being a vampire."

"O-k. So then why didn't you give it to her when she was a vampire?"

He sighed. "Because, she didn't want it."

"Why didn't you want it, Mom?"

"I didn't want one until you had one." Mom replied.

"But, I don't have one."

"Yet, we are giving you one tomorrow."

"Cool." That was the only word that came to mind. "What does it look like?"

"Like all the others," Dad said. "It has a lion to symbolize strength and clovers to symbol unity."

"Will mine be a necklace or a bracelet or something?" I was curious at what the thing would look like.

"Yours is going to be made into earrings. Alice has a choker, Rosalie has a necklace, Carlisle has a ring, Esme has a bracelet, and Jasper has a_ leather_ bracelet. I'm not sure what Emmett has."

"Well, I hope they don't make tacky earrings."

"Don't worry, they won't be. Alice designed them and we're going to the jeweler tomorrow to pick it up."

"Can I come? I really could get out of the house."

"Nope, we have something planned for you."

Apparently, I needed to be planned ahead of time for what I'm doing. And I'm not involved with it in any way.

"What's with you people? Is there a special occasion that I'm forgetting about?"

"Maybe, you'll see. You need to get home, it's late and you look like you're about to fall flat on your face and sleep."

"Yea, maybe I am a little tired." I yawned as I was talking.

As I went downstairs, I could hear Charlie yelling at the TV because the Yankees had just taken the lead to the Red Sox in the ninth inning. I could hear Edward and Bella behind me arguing like an old married couple and I somehow could hear everything else going on in this little town. A footstep, screams, yells, sirens, bells, timers, and voices; everything was going off in my head.

"Ugh. Get out of my head."

"What's wrong?" Edward said concerned.

"Nothing Dad, I'm fine. Bye Charlie!"

"Bye sweetie, I love you." Charlie yelled back without looking away from the TV.

"Love you, too!" I said kind of distracted.

_I wonder if she's feeling alright. Maybe I did something wrong. Maybe I should have let Jacob leave without telling her._

Those were Edward's thoughts. I heard that in my mind. That wasn't normal. My gift was to show people things, not read people's minds. I was starting to get a little freaked out….again. I was sure that I was sick or something.

"Dad, can you carry me home? I'm not feeling very good."

"Sure, hop on."

I hopped on Edward's back and we were off. I could feel the wind in my hair and the breeze hitting my face as we rounded the corner to Carlisle's.

"Can we go to the cottage?" I asked.

"Sure," Mom answered "you might have to sleep in our room though because your room's still under construction.

"That's fine."

I liked Mom and Dad's room, it looked like an ocean. The walls were painted blue and the bed was the most comfortable bed you could ever sleep on. Except no one ever slept in that bed, I have been the only one to ever sleep in that bed. I'm the only one in the family who sleeps. It's kind of a disadvantage at times, but it helps me recharge unlike the vampires at my house.

When we got into our little cottage in the forest, I could still hear the hammers hammering and the power tools going off like the 4th of July. It was loud but by the time that dad put me into his bed, I was sound asleep.

My dreams were all over the place. First, I dreamt about Edward and Bella if they didn't have me. I had always thought that they would have been a little bit happier without me. Then I thought that they couldn't live without me. Then I thought the first thing again. The next thing, I dreamt of was Jacob. I couldn't bear to live without him. I was wondering about what everyone was talking about behind my back, and why they were trying to keep it a secret from me. I hated secrets. My dad had always said that secrets are for the people who don't have powers to share them with. But if you do have powers you should share them whenever you wanted. That's why everybody knew everything about my personal life. I hated that. As I fell into my REM cycle, I began hearing thoughts again.

_How are we going to keep her busy tomorrow? How are we going to keep her away from Jacob?_

I knew there was something wrong with me but this wasn't normal for me to be hearing thoughts...again. There was something going on. And I was going to figure out what.

**Reviews would be greatly appreciated! **


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